By Thomas Laughridge
Growing up, I always loved the story of Jericho. For my sixth birthday party, my parents constructed an elaborate cardboard replica of the city for my friends and me to march around. Once we had circled the city seven times and the “trumpets” had been blown, my uncle—hidden inside the walls—brought the whole structure crashing down in triumph.
As I got older, I began to grapple with the more difficult realities of this story—at first glance, it seems to portray God as vindictive and merciless. “...and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them” (Deuteronomy 7:2 ESV).
Over the past few weeks, the Fellows have been focused on writing a paper about an 'Old Testament controversy' of our choice. I chose to explore Joshua’s destruction of the Canaanites, asking myself why a loving and merciful God would command such vengeful retribution.
The short, yet extremely profound, answer is that the Canaanites were actually given far more grace than they deserved. The moral corruption of Canaan was not an isolated issue but a multi-generational depravity that defied repentance and demanded attention from God. Nonetheless, they were given chance after chance to turn from their ways, until consequences were enacted over four-hundred years after their transgressions were first identified in Genesis 15.
Just as God's judgment on Canaan served as a decisive act of justice, it also foreshadowed the greater reality that ultimate justice would one day be satisfied—not through the destruction of sinners, but through the willing sacrifice of Jesus. This story is not a regression in God’s providential plan, but rather a forward-looking demonstration.
Through Christ, judgment and mercy have met at the cross. The damnation which we deserve to the same degree as the Canaanites has been washed away. How then can we look at Him who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, and not clearly see a God that loves His people so dearly that He would seek to redeem them even in spite of the deepest wickedness?
The Canaanites were given every opportunity to die to themselves and obey, just as we are. They did not submit, and consequently, they received exactly what they deserved. As I wrestled with this story, I realized that if we deny this fundamental truth, we are left with a version of God that is unrecognizable from the Lord who is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26 ESV).
Thomas Laughridge is a member of the Capital Fellows class of 2024-25. He is from Roanoke, VA, and is a graduate of the University of Virginia. This year, he is working at Everfox in Herndon, VA.
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About Capital Fellows. Capital Fellows is an advanced leadership and discipleship program for recent college graduates. Through graduate courses, a paid internship, one-on-one mentoring, and many leadership and community service opportunities, fellows develop and apply their gifts in real-world situations while learning to integrate a Christian worldview into all areas of life. Capital Fellows is a unique opportunity to live and work in the Washington DC area and to be an active member of a supportive community that seeks to serve the city with the love of Christ. It is also a unique opportunity to get hands-on experience in the workplace while deeply exploring God’s design for us as workers and contributors to human flourishing.
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In the spring semester, each fellow is asked to write a paper for Dr. Bill Fullilove’s class on a topic that they are personally sorting and that has been the subject of debate in the church. These papers can be hard to write because they are not just intellectual exercises, but a matter of the heart. Please pray for the fellows as they work through the questions, doubts, and debates of these topics. May God bless them with a deep sense of his closeness as they step into topics that are hard and possibly confusing. Perhaps the most amazing part of this work is not the papers and topics themselves, but that God invites us to ask our questions, to wonder about things, and to seek wisdom in his Word.
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